Police: Kennebunk man put mom in headlock while his kids watched

By Julie Manganis, The Salem News •November 30, 2013 12:54 pm

SALEM, Mass. — A Maine man who appeared to police to be high on an inhalant allegedly tried to choke his elderly mother when she confronted him about injuries to his face, as his children, ages 13 and 7, watched, a prosecutor said during the man’s arraignment yesterday.

“Daddy accidentally hurt Grandma while he was giving her a hug,” the younger daughter of Sean Dolan, 38, of Kennebunk, Maine, told police after the incident Wednesday evening, according to a police report.

But police and prosecutors say Dolan put his mother in a headlock after growing enraged when she asked how he’d injured his face.

Prosecutor Patrick Collins said Dolan’s mother was concerned that her son had been “huffing,” a practice of inhaling the contents of an aerosol container in order to get high, after she dropped him off at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers to do some shopping.

When she returned with the children to pick him up, she noticed his facial injuries, which Dolan said were from a fall.

Back at his mother’s home in Salem, where he was visiting for the holiday, Dolan became angry about his mother’s questions. At one point he screamed at his children. Then, the woman told police, he grabbed her around the throat.

Police went to the home, on Perkins Street, for a report of a “man out of control.”

Later, during his arrest, officers found a can of air used to remove dust from electronics, as well as a small marijuana pipe.

Defense lawyer Mark McNally said Dolan, who is divorced, had been laid off from a seasonal job at a Mexican restaurant and is unemployed. He said Dolan denied using any drugs.

As Salem District Court Judge Michael Lauranzano agreed to release Dolan on his own recognizance until trial, Dolan’s mother stood in the courtroom gallery and called out, “He’s got nowhere to go.”